Member of the LGBT community in their earliest appearances in theatre were not written by or for an LGBT audience. They were portrayed as "sexual deviants" and at the time, homosexuality was considered a mental illness. Beginning in the 1950s and 1960s there was a social movement for the acceptance of LGBT people. This began to reflect in the art and theatre, where LGBT people began writing and producing their own stories for and by themselves, despite the reluctance of some. The first major play was The Boys In The Band. Early 60s plays often featured a flamboyant main character who often participated in drag. The theatre later expanded to include more diverse stories about the community. In the 1980s with the rise of the AIDS epidemic, the theatre began to focus on this new facet of society since, early on when understanding was low, doctors thought the only people who could have this disease were gay (This is not true). This had a lasting impression on LGBT theatre with successful plays being produced about AIDS up into the 1990s. Since the 1990s LGBT theatre has found mainstream success and has garnered interest outside of the community, winning Tonys and receiving many accolades (Bartlett, et. Al, 2002).
Neill Bartlett, Michael R. Schiavi, The Continuum Companion to Twentieth-Century Theatre, ed. Colin Chambers (London, 2002).
Neill Bartlett, Michael R. Schiavi, The Continuum Companion to Twentieth-Century Theatre, ed. Colin Chambers (London, 2002).